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WWE Monday Night Raw 2/13/2012 - The Good, The Bad And The Ugly

Shawn Michaels returned, the WWE writers bit off more than they could chew and we actually got some solid wrestling on this week's Monday Night Raw.

Aubrey By Aubrey Sitterson February 14, 2012
  

One week after a show so bad it made me forget why it is that I watch this stuff (Catch up by reading the WWE Monday Night Raw 2/6/2012 recap), WWE returned with a totally serviceable Monday Night Raw. It didn't set the world on fire, had a truly insufferable opening and closing and didn't do a whole lot to sell me on the upcoming Elimination Chamber pay-per-view, but it was still a decent show, with several solid wrestling matches, if you can imagine.

For more details, keep reading as I run down the good, bad and ugly from this week's show (SPOILER: The only living Funkasaurus in captivity must have been released back into the wild). Then, make sure you share us with your friends and make my editors think people are actually reading us by: 1) Liking the article on Facebook, 2) Tweeting the link to all your pals, and 3) Chatting it up in the comments.

And if you're digging Daniel Bryan these days as much as we are, you could do a lot worse than checking out this past week's Straight Shoot: Is Daniel Bryan Really A Heel?

Finally, a special note: If you find yourself in the New York City area this Sunday, come join myself, some of UGO's finest and a bunch of other assorted degenerates as we watch Elimination Chamber at Highland Park. Sunny will be there too, so make sure to bring along your creepiest leers. If you want to stop by and say "Hello," make sure to Tweet at me or just start approaching random strangers. Your call.

Brandon Stroud over at WithLeather.Uproxx.com has more to say on WWE Monday Night Raw, so check out his thoughts on this week's show.

 

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WWE Raw 2/13/2012
Credit: WWE

Bad – Meet The New Boss...

Don't get me wrong, I'm thrilled that John Laurinaitis is still the Interim General Manager of Raw. The guy was far, far too effective as a heel to simply be unceremoniously removed from Raw, and we've yet to get the full pay-off to his ongoing rivalry with CM Punk. The problem, however, lies in how he was reinstated...

Last week, WWE's Chief Operating Barbarian King, Triple H, relieved Johnny Ace of his duties, but we were then informed that the WWE board would be issuing their formal ruling later in the week. Again, I'm glad that Laurinaitis is still playing his fantastic, not-really-getting-what-"interim"-means heel authority figure, but it's beyond me why WWE would even waste time kind-of firing him only to reinstate him off-camera and restore the status quo without any kind of pay-off or substantive changes. What's that? It's because someone is asleep at the wheel and doesn't fully think through the storylines in the world's most popular wrestling promotion's flagship show? Totally reasonable.

WWE Raw 2/13/2012
Credit: WWE

Ugly – 15 Minutes Of My Life I Won’t Get Back

Debates stink. Whether it's your high school team, part of the presidential semifinal qualifiers or just an asshole under the misimpression that playing devil's advocate makes him a bright guy, debates always have and always will stink. So, it shouldn't be surprising that when WWE chose to open its most popular show with a wacky debate featuring all six participants in the WWE Title Elimination Chamber match, it became an absolute train wreck.

Bulletpointed for your pleasure:

  • Saturday Night Live can barely pull off debate sketches, and that's those guys' actual fulltime job. The hubris of the WWE writer's room to think they could make this work.
  • R-Truth is funny in an abstract, absurdist kind of way, but he's quickly completing his transition into full-on comedy act. The guy was a much more useful piece as a heel.
  • Chris Jericho has apparently completely abandoned his fantastic "Jeritroll" gimmick, reverting back to big words questionably used and condescending insults to the audience.
  • Even CM Punk grated in this segment, as his facetiously claiming that the segment wouldn't end in violence was just an irritating way of pointing out how formulaic the set-up was. Claiming a fart in an elevator doesn't make it smell any better.


Thankfully, Dolph Ziggler was there to say what we were all thinking, asserting that the segment was "15 minutes of his life he'll never get back."

WWE Raw 2/13/2012
Credit: WWE

Good – Good Match The First

Generally, I don't mind too much when a promotion cuts away from an ongoing match to show some commercials. Sure, I'd rather they didn't do it, but it doesn't bug me as much as it does other people - my suspension of belief is strong enough to handle the fact that matches, miraculously, never end while I'm being given the hard-sell on White Collar. But, when we aren't allowed to see the beginning of a match, as with tonight's Chris Jericho/Kofi Kingston bout, it's very difficult for me to get sucked into the drama.

That said, these two wrestlers rebounded beautifully. The dirt sheets had been abuzz this past week about Jericho and Kingston two wrestling together on a foreign tour, and while I would have liked to see it go on a bit longer, I was impressed by what I saw. I've always dug Kofi and just felt that he needed a decent storyline and a gimmick adjustment to get well-and-truly over, and his match-up with Jericho proved that his wrestling skills, at least, are definitely on-point. My favorite moment was Kofi's tremendous sell for the Walls of Jericho.

WWE Raw 2/13/2012
Credit: WWE

Good – SmackDown Drama

I've made no secret of the fact that I love what's going on over on SmackDown with Daniel Bryan. His slow and steady heel turn, his ambiguous use of A.J. to win matches, his tremendous giantkiller contests against Big Show, the tangential involvement of Mark Henry and Randy Orton - it's all been fantastic. Tonight that continued as Bryan sat at commentary and watched Orton take on Big Show, and the whole thing nailed home how much more focused the SmackDown Elimination Chamber match seems than the Raw one.

Yes, everyone is still more or less just out for that big accessory, but with SmackDown, each wrestler's involvement seems more organic. Except for The Great Khali, but I'm willing to allow it because he's huge, and as long as he's around, there's at least a small chance we might see another Punjabi Prison Match. Keep hope alive.

WWE Raw 2/13/2012
Credit: WWE

Good – Shitterson Match Of The Night

Given the past few weeks of Daniel Bryan squaring off against both me, I went into Randy Orton vs. Big Show with ridiculously high expectations. I can't say enough nice things about Bryan and Show's work together, and I was just as impressed by the match the World Heavyweight Champion put on with Orton this past week on SmackDown. While I wouldn't rate this week's Orton vs. Show match as highly as that contest or the best Bryan vs. Show matches, it was still entertaining enough to be considered the Shitterson Match Of The Night.

Oftentimes I get a little bored during Randy Orton matches, as the guy seems just too perfect: He's fast, tall, strong, doesn't sell very much and can (and usually does) hit his finisher out of nowhere. So, it was a real treat to watch him get overpowered and manhandled by Big Show during their match, which made it all the more exciting when Orton hit that ridiculously awesome hangman's DDT on Big Show from the top rope. Hell, I didn't even mind Michael Cole during this match, as it cracked me up how he sang Daniel Bryan's praises for exactly as long as the guy was sitting within earshot. Even the oddly botched RKO gets forgiven in my book for the organic way that Orton and Show worked back around to it.

 
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